Ghost Behind You

1.23. The Storage Room

In front of Rose stood an old, dusty desk with several chairs stacked upside down on top of it. Everything in the room was covered in a thick layer of dust, indicating that it hadn't been touched for a long time. To her right, a row of damaged benches was piled high with random items concealed under old newspapers. Rose lifted a sheet of newspaper and found a ragged, hole-ridden quilt. The rest of the room was cluttered with broken mops, a rusty bicycle, shattered beer bottles, and various other discarded objects—all cloaked in the same grayish hue of dust. The musty air was stifling.

If I were hiding the guest registry, I'd put it in the desk, Rose thought, as she removed the chairs stacked on top. The dust on her hands made her wince, regretting that she hadn't thought to bring gloves.

The room was stuffy, and the humidity made her clothes cling uncomfortably to her skin. She noticed three drawers in the desk, none of which were locked. She opened them one by one, hoping for a breakthrough.

In the leftmost drawer, she found a stack of notebooks. Though their covers were grimy, Rose immediately recognized them—they looked just like the guest registry at the front desk. Her excitement rising, she pulled out all the notebooks and quickly flipped through them. Sure enough, they were the older guest logs, with entries dating back to 2004. Fighting back a surge of excitement, she carefully placed the notebooks into a plastic bag she had brought for this exact purpose. Whoever had left the note clearly knew where the records were hidden, likely a staff member or someone who had stumbled upon them. Judging by the handwriting, Rose guessed the latter.

Things had gone surprisingly smoothly, and Rose felt a sense of relief as she turned to leave the storage room. But as she spun around, she froze. A figure stood silently in the doorway, staring directly at the plastic bag in her hands. The person didn't speak or move—just stood there, watching her.

Rose hadn't heard anyone approach, and she had no idea how long they had been standing there. The figure didn't look like any hotel staff member she had seen, adding to the sudden chill that crept down her spine. For a moment, she was completely at a loss.

Suddenly, a slight breeze stirred, rustling the old newspapers scattered across the room. In that instant, the figure vanished—gone as if it had never been there. Left behind, right where the figure had stood, was a small, dirty bundle lying on the ground.

Another ghost. A shiver ran through Rose's body. She had just encountered a ghost in broad daylight. It wasn't only the appearance that disturbed her, but also the fact that she hadn't sensed it at all. The ghost had materialized while she was entirely focused on finding the registry. Still, her nerves had toughened since she first arrived, and although the encounter rattled her, she managed to stay calm.

Clutching the plastic bag, Rose quickly left the storage room. The fresh air outside was a relief after the musty, stifling atmosphere inside. She glanced back at the storage hut but couldn't bring herself to go back and close the door. The dirty bundle left behind felt oddly familiar, though she couldn't place where she had seen it before. Still, with the registry books in hand, she didn't dwell on it.

After cleaning off the dust from the notebooks, Rose spread them out on the floor and began carefully flipping through each page, making notes as she went. She narrowed her focus to entries from 2006 onwards, as the witch was believed to have stayed at the hotel sometime last year. After hours of meticulous searching, she compiled a list of guests who had stayed in Room 104:

June 15, 2007: Gary Ma / Mary Li

May 18, 2007: Zhang Tianhai / Niu Benxin

December 5, 2006: Liu Huiquan / Zhao Lingling

August 7-9, 2006: Wanda Wang

June 21-24, 2006: Wanda Wang

May 7-10, 2006: Wanda Wang

April 2-7, 2006: Guo Hongwei / Chu Shuzhen

March 9, 2006: Li Chaoyang

That's strange, Rose thought, tilting her head. The first entry for Room 104 in 2006 wasn't until March, which seemed odd. Out of curiosity, she checked the 2005 records and found that the room had been booked much more frequently that year. It had seen regular guests, but after Wanda Wang's stays in 2006, the room's occupancy dropped dramatically.

Wanda Wang, Rose mused. She might be the witch. Her heart raced. But she needed more information, especially about other deaths in Room 104 before Gary. It was time to call her police contact, Bob, back in Beijing.